What does μεθίστημι (methístēmi) mean in the Bible?
Methistemi names movement or removal, with its actor and object identifying the event. Luke's dishonest manager anticipates removal from his position.
Greek · G3179
μεθίστημι
Methistemi names movement or removal, with its actor and object identifying the event. Luke's dishonest manager anticipates removal from his position.
Reading a lexicon entry
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μεθίστημιG3179
Pronunciationmethístēmi
What does μεθίστημι (methístēmi) mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for μεθίστημι (G3179) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G3179?
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include brought [us] (1), my removal (1), removing (1), to move (1), to turn away (1).
Where does μεθίστημι (methístēmi) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 16:4. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (2), 1 Corinthians (1), Colossians (1), Luke (1).
What This Word Actually Means
Methistemi names movement or removal, with its actor and object identifying the event. Luke's dishonest manager anticipates removal from his position. Paul's synagogue speech recounts God removing Saul and raising David before proclaiming the promised Savior. Demetrius complains that Paul has turned people away from manufactured gods, exposing a conflict between gospel persuasion and the shrine trade.
First Corinthians describes even mountain-moving faith as empty without love. Colossians gives thanks for the Father's rescue and transfer into the kingdom of His beloved Son, where redemption and forgiveness are found. The word can therefore describe loss of office, persuasion, extraordinary movement or saving transfer. Its repeated use does not make every removal good or evil.
The particular passage must identify the grounds, destination and purpose, and no modern leader may borrow God's saving transfer to justify controlling another person.
How the Bible Uses It
Five direct BSB forms describe a manager's removal, Saul's replacement, people persuaded away from manufactured gods, mountain movement without love and the Father's transfer of believers into His Son's kingdom.
- Luke.16.4
I know what I will do so that after my removal from management, people will welcome me into their homes.’
The manager plans for his removal within a parable that proceeds to faithful handling of possessions and the impossibility of serving God and money.
- Acts.13.22
After removing Saul, He raised up David as their king and testified about him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after My own heart; he will carry out My will in its entirety.’
God's removal of Saul introduces David within the story leading to the promised Savior Jesus, not a modern leader's automatic claim to depose rivals.
- Acts.19.26
And you can see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in nearly the whole province of Asia, this Paul has persuaded a great number of people to turn away. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all.
Demetrius complains that people have been persuaded away from manufactured gods, as the surrounding speech identifies threatened trade and the ensuing riot.
- 1Cor.13.2
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
Mountain-moving faith is presented hypothetically to show its emptiness without love, whose patience and truthfulness are then described.
- Col.1.13
He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son,
The Father's rescue brings believers into the Son's kingdom, immediately joined to redemption and forgiveness and later to reconciliation through His bodily death.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itbrought [us]1×Colossians 1:13
my removal1×Luke 16:4
removing1×Acts 13:22
to move1×1 Corinthians 13:2
to turn away1×Acts 19:26
Show sample aligned rows
Luke 16:4μετασταθῶtomy removalVerb - Aorist Subjunctive Passive - 1st Person SingularActs 13:22μεταστήσαςtoremovingVerb - Aorist Participle Active - Nominative Masculine SingularActs 19:26μετέστησενtoto turn awayVerb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular1 Corinthians 13:2μεθιστάναιtoto moveVerb - Present Infinitive ActiveColossians 1:13μετέστησενtobrought [us]Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowLuke 16:4
Aligned rows5
Books represented4
Luke1Acts21 Corinthians1Colossians1
Source forms
μετέστησεν2xmetestēsenActs 19:26, Colossians 1:13
μεθιστάναι1xmethistanai1 Corinthians 13:2
μετασταθῶ1xmetastathōLuke 16:4
μεταστήσας1xmetastēsasActs 13:22
Parsing patterns
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular2xActs 19:26, Colossians 1:13
Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular1xActs 13:22
Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Passive - 1st Person Singular1xLuke 16:4
Verb - Present Infinitive Active1x1 Corinthians 13:2
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Use persuasion and truthful hearing without treating a changed conviction as grounds for physical control.
- Keep decisions about leadership accountable to evidence rather than claiming God's historical action as personal authority.
Avoid claiming...
- God's rescue into the Son's kingdom does not grant leaders ownership of members or their movements.
- A use of the same movement verb does not prove every change of role is divine approval.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. to move
Strong'sG3179
Lexical occurrences5 versesGreek text appearances5 timesWord forms4 forms5 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Source Gloss
to move
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
5 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Luke 16:4Verb First Person Singular Aorist Passive Subjunctive
μετασταθῶmetastaqw
I move out of its place, transfer
Read verseActs 13:22Verb Aorist Active Participle Nominative Singular Masculine
μεταστήσαςmetasthsav
I move out of its place, transfer
Read verseActs 19:26Verb Third Person Singular Aorist Active Indicative
μετέστησενmetesthsen
I move out of its place, transfer
Read verse1 Corinthians 13:2Verb Present Active Infinitive
μεθιστάνειν,meqistanein
I move out of its place, transfer
Read verseColossians 1:13Verb Third Person Singular Aorist Active Indicative
μετέστησενmetesthsen
I move out of its place, transfer
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
Grammatical Forms
How mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Form groups4Aligned forms5TensesAorist, PresentVoicesActive, Passive
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Indicativestates a fact or reality2×
Aorist ActiveActs 19:26 · Col 1:132×
Subjunctivepossibility, probability, or purpose1×
Aorist PassiveLuke 16:41×
Participleverbal adjective — the action as a modifying quality1×
Aorist ActiveActs 13:221×
Infinitiveverbal noun — the action in abstract1×
Present Active1 Cor 13:21×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 5 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
aorist4present1
Voice
active4passive1
Mood
indicative2infinitive1participle1subjunctive1
NT Occurrences
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
Word Origins
μεθίστημι is built from these roots:
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
Colossians speaks first of giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified believers to share the saints' inheritance. His rescue and transfer then lead directly to the beloved Son, redemption and forgiveness. The verb serves this gracious movement; it does not independently describe a church's power over its members. Acts offers another instructive voice: Demetrius calls Paul's persuasion a threat while revealing his trade's dependence on manufactured gods.
The narrator also records a dangerous crowd and public steps to stop the riot. First Corinthians adds that even remarkable faith gains no worth by bypassing love. Read together, the witnesses invite confidence in God's rescue and attention to truthful persuasion, faithful stewardship and patient love. They give no excuse for coercive relocation, financial concealment or treating opponents as objects to be moved.
Anchor passage
Col.1.13
Doctrinal connections
- Thanksgiving to the Father precedes the account of rescue into the Son's kingdom.
- Redemption and forgiveness specify the saving gift associated with the transferred believers.
- The Son's bodily death grounds reconciliation in the surrounding Colossians argument.
- Paul's speech places David within God's promise leading to the Savior Jesus.
- The Ephesus dispute exposes economic interests threatened by persuasion against manufactured gods.
- First Corinthians requires patient, truthful love even where extraordinary faith is imagined.
The five witnesses include active forms and a passive subjunctive in the manager's anticipated removal. Infinitive mountain movement and the Father's completed action occur in different constructions; tense or voice alone does not establish a modern application.
From Old to New Testament
First Samuel 15:22-29 connects Saul's rejected kingship with disobedience and the announced gift of the kingdom to another. Acts recounts that transition within the promise leading to Jesus; the historical judgment does not install present teachers as Samuel or authorize coercive removal.